In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan made it clear that his agency will not engage in harsh "enhanced interrogation" practices, including waterboarding, even if ordered to by the next president.
“I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I’ve heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure,” Brennan said, adding that he "would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again.”
Brennan responded to rhetoric from GOP candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who both support torture, with Trump going as far to say that he'd bring back a "hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."
The CIA used waterboarding and other torture techniques on terror suspects after the 9/11 attack, but President Barack Obama banned the practice in early 2009.